The 1997 season was the final year of the Busch-branded Clash at Daytona International Speedway before the official beer of NASCAR jumped back onboard for the 2020 season. That ’97 season would pan out to be one of the best of NASCAR young gun Jeff Gordon’s Hall of Fame career.
The format for the Busch Clash that year was two 10-lap segments for a prize purse worth $370,000. The field consisted of 14 cars, all pole winners from the previous year, entered with one goal: lead Lap 20.
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The race was dominated by Gordon and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Terry Labonte, but the end result saw Gordon come out on top. Speedweeks would turn out to be great for Gordon and the No. 24 team. One week after the Busch Clash victory, Gordon went on to win his first of three Daytona 500 trophies, and later that year, he brought home his second of four NASCAR Cup Series championships.
Relive Gordon’s hot start to 1997 Daytona Speedweeks in this NASCAR Full Race Replay of the ’97 Busch Clash.
https://youtu.be/D90kWczP4eE